Roman Identity Research Articles

The Role of Non-State Actors in the Linguistic Policy in the Republic of Moldova

This article examines the evolving role of non-state actors in the politics of language, using the postSoviet Republic of Moldova as a case study. Over the past half-century, the increasing influence of non-state actors in global political systems has led to shifts not only in international relations but also in domestic policy areas such as language policy. Traditionally the exclusive domain of the state, language policy has become an arena of interaction between the state and various non-state actors, including political parties and non-governmental organizations. This interaction, termed the «politics of language,» extends beyond national borders, particularly in cases where a country's population is linked to kin states. In Moldova, the political landscape is divided between pro-Russian Moldovanists, who advocate for a distinct Moldovan identity and the use of “Moldovan” as the state language, and pro-Romanian Romanianists, who promote Romanian identity and language. The research identifies the key actors in Moldova's language politics and reveals that, during the country's independence, the politics of language has shifted from a conflict between the state and intellectual elites to a more complex set of relations between multiple actors, with Romanianists gaining influence. The role of the state has been significantly weakened, as evidenced by the Constitutional Court's reduced capacity to maintain constitutional stability, becoming instead a tool for non-state actors.

On the Issue of Symbolic Politics in Modern Moldova (1989–2023)

The article examines the evolution of narratives of symbolic politics in modern Moldova (1989–2023), including among the political “rights”. The analysis of documents and political discourse allowed the author to identify three key narratives: Russia as a threat, European integration as a national idea, the myth of the identity of the Romanian and Moldovan languages (language narrative). Particular attention in the article is paid to the dynamics of political narratives, their coherence. The current policy of Moldova in constructing the Romanian identity among Moldovans, reflecting the interests of ethnic minorities (“unionist Romanians”), provokes social disunity, which is confirmed by the growth in the number of opposition forces and protests, and in recent years – in a decrease in trust in the foreign policy vector of the republic (European integration). However, the nationalist ideological trend, in general, is developing, overcoming “multi-vectorality” and neutrality.

The Myth of a Jewish Invasion and the Refugee Question in Romania after the Great War

The idea of a Jewish invasion in Romania appeared during the debates on the first constitution (1866) and was revitalized after 1918, as the recently occupied territory of Bessarabia hosted many Jewish groups fleeing revolutionary Russia, the civil war, and pogroms. In this context, the immigrants were depicted by nationalist propaganda as invaders wishing to exploit Romania’s wealth and hospitality, and this image was combined with the myth of Judeo-Bolshevism. Thanks to the archival sources of the High Commission for Refugees and of relief organizations such as the Joint Distribution Committee, this paper aims to present in detail the controversial encounter between national security policies and humanitarian concerns for the fate of the refugees. At the same time, it will discuss how the refugee question influenced the Romanian political context, fostering sentiments of antisemitism and xenophobic anxiety. As will be argued, the idea of an invasion was very influential before and after World War I, and conditioned not only the definition of the policies regarding citizenship and minorities, but also the whole political discourse and the shaping of Romanian identity. At the same time, the emergence of refugees and the juxtaposition of humanitarian versus national security was not a purely Romanian affair, and in many aspects anticipated the topics of today’s debates.

Homeland in Romanian children’s literature written in the Diaspora

Romanian children’s literature has always been situated at the crossways of cultural ideologies. The Romanian texts for children lack innocence due to the implicit level of cultural, social, and historical knowledge they mirror at different epochs. In this paper I investigate how literary texts for children written in Romanian communities living abroad present the idea of homeland. I examine literary works written by three contemporary Romanian writers living in Romanian communities in Serbia: Ana Niculina Ursuleanu, Radu Flora and Slavco Almăjan. My selection includes books published in between 1970 and 2010: Cu Soarele-n Creștet [With the sun on the head], (2006); Soare, Bună Dimineața! [Sun, good morning!], (1998); Cărările Nilului [The paths of the Nile], (2008); Piticii au Uitat să Crească [The dwarfs forgot to grow up], (1987); Pianul cu Păienjeni [The piano with spiders], (1991); Când Vine Primăvara [When spring comes], (1970). In my analysis, I focus upon the role of settings in building the image of an eternal Romanian homeland that transcends the national borders. Thus, I discuss three main types of settings that shape the fiction imagined by the proposed authors, related to the following environments: landscape, family, and school. My analysis considers the theory of landscape proposed by Mitchell (2002, p. 5) in Landscape and Power. According to it, landscape implies the interaction between the human, the natural, the self and the other. For each novel, I analyse the role of settings within the literary texts. I explore Radu Flora’s novel in connection with two elements of setting, landscape and school, respectively. In Ana Niculina Ursulescu’s books I look at the bond between family and landscape, while in Slavco Almăjan’s literary work I highlight the importance of landscape in building the image of childhood. These functions are classified according to a sophisticated range, from the purpose of clarifying the conflict or its function as a symbol (in When Spring Comes by Radu Flora), to the task of mood intensifier attributed to setting (in Balul Strugurilor [The party of grapes] by Slavco Almăjan). My conclusions validate the idea that literary texts constantly build and convey an image of the Romanian identity and a sense of belonging to the Romanian homeland as marked by borders. I focus on nostalgia and irony as the main feelings the authors transmit about the image of homeland. On the one hand, the image of homeland in the literary works written by these three writers implies nostalgia, a feeling conveyed through an adult’s perspective of childhood. On the other hand, sometimes, as it happens in the case of the novel When Spring Comes, the narrator adopts a humorous perspective on history and human interactions among characters. As a final remark, I show that the selection of these three settings (landscape, family and school) creates the image of homeland in connection with a nationalist ideology. More precisely, children’s books reinforce the idea of unity between the two Romanian speaking communities (in Romania and Vojvodina) that share common cultural values. The representation of homeland reiterates a history-oriented ideology and legitimates the assimilation of nation to childhood.

Forging Romanitas: The Intersection of Urbanization and Identity in Mérida

This paper aims to explore the role of urbanization in the formation of a shared Roman identity during the time of the Roman Empire. By examining the physical features of urban settlements and the economic opportunities that arose from them, it seeks to understand how these factors contributed to the development of a cohesive identity across the empire’s vast and diverse territory. This paper will use examples from cities in the western regions of the empire, such as Pompeii and Mérida, to demonstrate how urbanization and the economic opportunities it brought forth helped create a sense of Romanness among diverse ethnic groups. It will also investigate the impact of building projects and intervention from wealthy elites in the fostering of a Roman identity through urbanization. This idea will then be tied into the role of Roman architecture and urban planning in the development of said identity, exemplified by the similarities and differences between settlements across the empire. At the same time, this paper will also consider the historical context in which these urban settlements emerged, examining how the broader geopolitical situation might have impacted urbanization. By analyzing the intersection between physical structures and economic opportunities brought about within Roman urban settlements, this paper hopes to shed light on the significance of urbanization as a driving force behind the formation of a shared Roman identity. This research will contribute to the broader understanding of cultural identity formation in ancient societies and the role of urbanization in shaping the collective consciousness of diverse populations.

SCHOOLS AND THEMES OF ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, AND HISTORY OF RELIGION IN ROMANIA

The article represents a brief presentation of the evolution of religious studies in Romania during the 19–20 centuries. The studies on the religious phenomenon written in Romania in the 19th century were closely related to the national problem. One of the fundamental questions that arose at the time was whether Christianity is an integral part of national identity. At the end of the 19th century Christianity was seen as a popular tradition, part of what was beginning to be known as folklore. As folklore represented the Romanian identity, it had to be preserved at all costs, therefore also the Christian elements found in popular traditions. Tudor Pamfile is the scholar who shows that folklore is not just a sum of superstitions that must be preserved because it represents tradition. He says that folklore represents a complex universe of meanings, a coherent world, which modern people no longer understand. After the First World War, Christianity is reconsidered. The rationalism of the 19th century is rejected, and "spiritualism" is adopted. Ernest Bernea, Ovidiu Papadima and other scholars wanted to show that the Romanian popular tradition, the basis of national identity, is permeated with the most authentic Christian vision. The Romanian popular tradition was no longer a matter of "superstition", but of the most authentic truth of life. Such an idea is spreading that the authentic man is a religious man. It is the basis of the conception of Mircea Eliade, who will become one of the most important researchers in the field of the history of religions in the world. He overcomes the issue of Romanian identity and its relationship with Christianity. He will be concerned in his works to show the universality of religious feeling, studying religious manifestations at a global level, from prehistory to the present. After 1945, the communist period was established in Romania. Religious history studies have been replaced by atheistic propaganda. However, scholars from the interwar period sought to study the religious phenomenon in Romania and the rest of the world. Also, many young people learned about Mircea Eliade and his work, carried out in France and the United States. One of them was Ioan Petru Culianu who managed to escape from Romania and become one of the great scholars in the field of history of religions. After the fall of the communist regime, religious history studies in Romania experienced a remarkable development.

A New Generation, a New Political Action: Terrorism in Romania (1920–1940)

In the 1920s Romania underwent a major political, cultural, and social change. A new generation of young people attended universities and started being involved in political life in a bigger country where access to civil and political rights was granted to all citizens. Influenced by the international context characterized by the rise of ideologies and by the habit of violence inherited from the Great War, a part of them considered terrorism as a possible instrument of action. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu’s movement was the main representative of such an attitude. Political homicides were not only a settling of scores, also transmitting the message that there was a justice that was superior to that imposed by law and it was based on the authentical values of Romanian identity. After the death of Codreanu, the Iron Guard, led by Horia Sima, did not give up terrorism, but it became a conscious method of political action with the aim of destabilizing and creating a climate of uncertainty and terror.

Ennodius and the Rhetoric of Roman Identity: Strategies and Traditions in Shaping Roman Identity in the Panegyric for Theoderic the Great, 506 CE

Abstract: Ennodius' panegyric for Theoderic the Great shows the employment of Roman rhetorical tradition and republican-era virtues to legitimise the new Germanic ruler of Italy. After Ennodius' general strategies to depict Theoderic as a Roman are discussed, this paper analyses two specific samples from the speech which show the use of traditional symbols, exempla , and even Ciceronian conceptions of tyranny alongside contemporary views of Romans and barbarians. These strategies were used to shape a version of Theoderic that removed the ruler from his Germanic background and reinterpreted him as a Roman ruler.

The Image of Mihai Viteazul in 19th-Century Romanian Paintings

The Image of Mihai Viteazul in 19th-century Romanian Painting. The Romanian artistic movement of the 19th-century assisted the political endeavor of national legitimization by establishing the Romanian identity, in its various forms, through art. By adapting the example of their neoclassical and romantic counterparts they depicted various patriotic symbols on their canvases in order to appeal both to the population, from a visual standpoint, and their inherent political cause: obtaining independence and unifying the historical Romanian provinces. Such unity was first achieved by the historical figure of Mihai Viteazul, a Wallachian prince of the late 16th century. As a consequence, his figure became one of the main motifs illustrated in the art of the time, being closely tied to the concept of Romanian historic identity. The artists underwent a process of research in order to represent and bring forward a faithful image of the ruler, and some of his greatest achievements. Both historical and literary sources were approached, resulting in a diverse body of paintings, which will be discussed in the present article. The research aims to establish the sources on which the various artworks were based, the accuracy of the represented message with respect to the historical background of the ruler as well as the various stylistic approaches of the artists in question. Keywords: painting, portraiture, Romanian artist, Mihai Viteazul, 19th century.

RADU GYR – CONDUCĂTORUL LEGIONARILOR DIN OLTENIA

Radu Demetrescu was very active in Legionary work. As head of the nest, he frequently met with "Captain Corneliu Z. Codreanu". But his main job was to coordinate the delegations of Legionaries in Banie, who encountered problems in different areas, especially when they wanted to organize volunteer activities, such as in the Olt Valley area, in the construction of churches. Radu Gyr represented a complex profile of the Legionnaires. He considered the radical student body, the "generation of fire and dream" as he called it, as the "historical ideal" that reached the culmination of Romanian identity.

Ancient history: A postcolonial view on Roman identity

Ancient history: A postcolonial view on Roman identity Prof Dr Felix K Maier, Professor for Ancient History at University of Zurich, explores the paradoxical dynamics of different identities in the multicultural Roman Empire. My history research project analyses the dynamics of different identities in the Roman Empire from around 50-150 AD. The Roman Empire is generally considered a ‘story of a success’ concerning the integration of the conquered peoples. The Romans surpassed other empires regarding temporal extension and maintained their power with little military presence. However, it was not only open rebellions that could have threatened Roman domination; it was also – and quite paradoxically – the successful integration of conquered peoples. This had to do with a couple of interdependent aspects.

Popular Participation in Renaissance Siena’s Romanitas Program

Abstract With no clear textual or physical proof of an ancient Roman settlement, Siena faced considerable challenges to its assumed antiquity in the trecento and quattrocento. The damaging insistence by Giovanni Villani, Leonardo Bruni, and Flavio Biondo, among others, of Siena’s Gallic—and thus non-Roman—origins prompted the Sienese state to develop an elaborate civic program in defense of its antiquity and Roman-ness, or Romanitas. Building upon expanding literature of the republic’s endeavor to manufacture evidence of a Roman foundation, this paper examines the ways in which the general Sienese population engaged this state-endorsed effort to promote classical origins and participated in communal performances that popularized Siena’s Roman identity. Through the celebration of the she-wolf as a symbol of Siena, the continuation of key Roman practices, and spiritual devotion to patron saints selected from the early centuries of the church, the Sienese public proved critical to the success of the Renaissance city’s claim to antiquity.

Elena Niculiță-Voronca, Zaharia Voronca și nu doar ei, în câteva micronarațiuni labirintice (I)

Divided into two distinct sequences, the present study aims in a first instance to recover two representative figures of Bukovina from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century: the quasi-unknown Elena Niculiță-Voronca and Zaharia Voronca. Through this recovery, which addresses both the biographical and the moral-ideational plan, the author intends to restore the atmosphere of the moment, putting in the foreground the relationship between Romanians and Ukrainians and the Romanians’ vision of the Austrian policies, reconstituting facts and identifying the dominant ideas of the time. However, the reconstitution of the two figures and their defining ideas is not possible without calling into question all sorts of relevant contexts. The first part of the study questions the case of the “Arboroasa” trial and the hypothesis that Zaharia Voronca was involved in a genuine conspiratorial action. It reconstitutes the figure of Zaharia Voronca during the trial and the possible reasons for the marriage with Elena Niculiță-Voronca and launches explanations for some surprising hypotheses. In the author’s opinion, Elena Niculiță-Voronca and Zaharia Voronca are united by several ideas that justify the events that the author reconstructs through their writings and the way in which they imagine each other in their own writings. Beyond all this, is it possible that there was a rift between Zaharia Voronca and Constantin Morariu, prison fellows during the trial of “Arboroasa”? And if there are arguments for such a rupture, how could it be explained? On the other hand, was there a visible metamorphosis over time of Zacharias Voroncaʾs personality? Wasn’t this rupture due precisely to some changes in Zacharias Voroncaʾs options? Trying to answer such questions, the author analyses a sequence from the diary of Elena Niculiță-Voronca, i. e. the record of her first trip to Vienna, in 1904, but also the way Elena Niculiță-Voronca appears in the texts written by Zaharia Voronca. The fact is that the two were united by the desire to reawaken in the villages where the Romanians considered themselves Ukrainians the consciousness of the Romanian identity. The first part ends with the reference to the Ruthenianization of Bukovina, a book from 1904, which will analysed in the second sequence of the study.

Names of the romanian folk costume (District of Storozhynets, Chernivtsi Region)

Field research in the Storozhinet district, which includes the Romanian villages of Budenets, Cheresh, Chudei, Krasnoilsk, Izhivtsi, Nizhny and Verkhni Petrivtsi, as well as in the Hlybot district, in the village of Ropcha, convinced us that everywhere there is a special interest in preserving the Romanian language, names ancient folk clothing and Romanian culture in general by popularizing traditions and the Christian-Orthodox faith, which are the main components of spiritual identity, defining elements of Romanian identity not only in this zone, but also in other adjacent territories. The purpose of the article is to analyze the terminology related to folk clothing. The novelty of scientific research is due to the fact that the vocabulary for the designation of the Romanian folk costume in the valley of the Siret River is being studied for the first time. The relevance of the study is motivated by the need for an in-depth analysis of the terminology of traditional Romanian folk clothing from ethnographic, ethnological and ethnolinguistic points of view, which confirms the dynamics of the development of the Romanian language in Ukraine. Conclusion. So, after analyzing the specific terminology of the indicated ethnographic region, we came to the conclusion that language elements of Latin origin are the most productive. They testify that the investigated layer of vocabulary was formed a long time ago, and therefore reflects the mentality, linguistic and cultural features of the Romanians of Northern Bukovina, is part of their ethnographic and ethnolinguistic heritage.

INVENTION OF “ROMAN”, IMAGINATION OF “BARBARIAN”: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE IMPERIAL IDENTITY OF ROME IN THE LATER TEXTS OF OVID

Purpose. The author in the presented article considers the late texts of Ovid, presented by Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto. The purpose of the article is to analyze how the texts reflect the processes of formation of the imperial political culture and identity.
 Research novelty. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the late texts of Ovid not as literary, but as political narratives that inspired the transformation of Roman identity, contributing to the actualization of the concepts of Self and Otherness.
 Materials and methods. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles of interdisciplinarity proposed in the framework of studies of nationalism, intellectual and cultural history, transplanted into the contexts of the literary history of Rome in the 1st century AD.
 Results. The article analyzes 1) Ovid’s attempts to form an ideal and positive image of power, 2) Ovid’s contribution to the development of Roman ideas about barbarians, 3) peculiarities of Ovid’s geographical perception of the formation of Roman territory as an imperial heterogeneous space. The contribution of the later texts of Ovid, represented by Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto and written in exile, to the formation of political imperial culture and identity is shown. The results of the study suggest that 1) Ovid was one of the first Roman authors who textualized the transformations of political power, contributing to the genesis of the cult of imperial power as an element of political culture; 2) in the formation and imagination of the images of the barbarians, Ovid continued the earlier tendencies of hierarchization and idealization of the inhabitants of the peripheral provinces: 3) the later texts of Ovid, written in exile, became a contribution to the development of the cultural geography of the emerging Roman Empire, based on the glorification and positive idealization of Italy through the prism of its opposition to the provinces.

Changing Identities at the Turn of the Common Era: The Case of Semiramis

Babylon, a city of shifting identities, was a constant point of reference for the Mediterranean world. This article explores the portrayal of the Babylonian queen Semiramis in Greek and Roman sources, demonstrating how ancient Near Eastern identities were constructed from the external perspective of Mediterranean cultures. Herodotus first mentioned Semiramis in the fifth century bce, associating her with Babylon’s architectural wonders. Ctesias described her as an outstanding, but in many respects flawed military leader. In contrast, during the final stage of the Roman Republic, Diodorus Siculus reshaped Ctesias’ narrative and portrayed her more positively, emphasizing her beauty, virtues, courage, and intelligence. During the Roman Empire, Semiramis remained a remarkable figure who accomplished great deeds, but later authors introduced negative aspects to her story. The Augustan Age portrayed her negatively, with new elements added, such as sodomy and murder, and used her as a stand-in for Cleopatra. Both queens were denigrated as female rulers and foreigners, emphasizing cultural differences between Mesopotamian and Roman identities. The portrayal of Semiramis served to categorize and describe Mesopotamian culture, rather than to understand it. Ultimately, this article shows how Semiramis reflects different perceptions of Babylonia/Assyria and how her portrayal shifted over time in ancient literature, serving as part of Augustan propaganda to pass judgment on Cleopatra and emphasize cultural differences.

Sex Education and the Dichotomies of Identity Representation. A Case Study on Republica

At the foundation of this research paper lays the notion of “identity” which comes to show how postmodernism and digimodernism can, in fact, coexist in a post-postmodern world where the problem of sex education is more actual than ever. The objective of this paper is to show how in this context full of dualities, a narrow topic such as sex education can reinforce the construction and representation of an identity. In this way, this paper analyzes how the Romanian media outlet Republica tackles this topic and how, when covering it, it manages to construct the Romanian group identity. The main hypothesis of this paper is that this media outlet relies a lot on religious principles when covering this topic. Moreover, a subsidiary hypothesis is that this publication correlates sex education with politics, since the politicians are the ones who take important decisions for this country. For the methodology, this paper uses the qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Discussing about some of the main results, it can be said that the analysis highlighted how sex education is correlated massively with politics and religion, but also with the issue of gender identity. Consequently, the Romanian identity is defined by some strong dichotomies present in the society (men versus women, science versus religion, parents versus authorities), showing many of the vulnerabilities to which different social categories are exposed.

CTITORI ȘI BINEFĂCĂTORI AI BISERICILOR ȘI ȘCOLILOR CONFESIONALE ORTODOXE ȘI GRECO-CATOLICE DIN SCAUNELE SECUIEȘTI CIUC, GIURGEU, ODORHEI ȘI TREISCAUNE, ÎN SECOLUL AL XVIII-LEA ȘI PRIMA JUMĂTATE A SECOLULUI AL XIX-LEA

The issue of the history of the Romanians from the former Szekler seats of Ciuc, Giurgeu, Odorhei and Treiscaune and of the main identity institutions – the church (Orthodox and Greek Catholic) and the confessional schools that functioned under the auspices of these churches has been little researched. Benefiting from access to ecclesiastical and secular documentary sources, little researched, the present study aims to introduce into the scientific circuit information about the state of places of worship and confessional schools built by members of some Romanian communities with a small number of members, most of them living in ethnically mixed localities, with a numerically majority Szekler/Hungarian population. In these conditions, an important role was played by the solidarity of the Romanians living on both sides of the Carpathians, who we find among the founders of the modest wooden churches, and after 1785, also of stone, and of the confessional school buildings. This solidarity was also manifested between the Romanian communities in the area. When a Romanian community, with a larger number of believers, managed to build a new church, the old one was donated to neighboring communities with few believers, thus witnessing the phenomenon called “traveling churches”. Where communities with a small number of Romanians have not managed to maintain their church, we witness the acceleration of the denationalization process and, finally, the disappearance of these communities. Instead, where it was possible to save the Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches and the confessional schools in the Romanian language, religion and school were the main factors promoting Christian teaching, religious education, Romanian culture and traditions, thus ensuring the perpetuation of the Romanian identity in -a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional area, in most cases refractory to alterity.

Grieks zonder grenzen

It has often been claimed that Greek literature of the Roman world is obsessed with the (classical) Greek past and detached from the real world in which it was written. This article, however, argues that Greek texts of the imperial period offer a fascinating glimpse of the polyphonic and multicultural world of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was characterized by globalization, migration, and mobility. While Greek was the lingua franca of a large part of the Mediterranean world, especially in the East, writers of Greek literature came from many different places and regions, flexibly moving in a triangular space between local, Greek, and Roman identities. Three different examples are discussed: an epigram by Crinagoras of Mytilene, a passage from Pseudo-Longinus’ On the Sublime, and Lucian’s interview with Homer in True History. In different ways, these texts construct intercultural dialogues, which invite the reader to perceive the world and its literature as more diverse than just Greek and Roman.

Transition from Natural to Early Synthetic Dyes in the Romanian Traditional Shirts Decoration

The traditional shirt (“ie”) is the most well-known element of Romanian anonymous textile art. Apart from aesthetic and utilitarian roles, it has strong symbolic significance, mainly through the colours used for decoration. Very recently, the traditional shirt with decoration over the shoulder (“ia cu altiță”) was introduced as a Romanian identity element as part of UNESCO heritage. Depending on the ethnographic area, the traditional shirt with decoration over the shoulder has acquired special expressive particularities over time. Particularly relevant is that from Valea Hârtibaciului, an area of Transylvania in the very centre of Romania. Although sober in appearance with large fields of white plain weave, it is discreetly decorated with elaborated embroidery on the sleeve bracelets, over the shoulders and neck. Even the colour range and decoration motifs remain unchanged in time, evolution in the materials used and a subtle transition from natural hues to more strident alternatives were observed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For the present study, samples were taken from representative objects in the collections of the ASTRA Museum, Sibiu and Ethnographical Museum, Brasov, documented as belonging to the area of Valea Hârtibaciului and dated in the museum archives as from the late 19th and early 20th century. The textile materials and the dyes used in the shirts’ embroidery were monitored. Fibre identification was made by optical microscopy and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). Dye analysis was performed by liquid chromatography coupled with UV-Vis (diode array) detection, while some of the samples were also analysed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection (LC-DAD-MS). Dyes were extracted from the fibres by acid hydrolysis. Identification was based on data collected on standards, dyes and dyed fibres. For the early synthetic dyes, a dedicated library of references was built, which includes information relative to the most relevant representatives used between 1850 and 1900, the ‘Helmut Schweppe list’. According to the study, in the last decades of the 19th century, natural dye sources such as dyer’s broom, madder, Mexican cochineal and indigoid dyes were gradually replaced by early synthetic dyes: fuchsine (1856), methyl violet (1861), synthetic alizarin (1871), brilliant green (1879), azo flavine 3R (1880), rhodamine B (1887) and others.